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Smuggler's Blues
This article is about the Miami Vice episode. For the song by Glenn Frey, see Smuggler's Blues (Song). "Smuggler's Blues" is the fifteenth episode of Miami Vice's first season. The episode premiered on February 1, 1985 and repeated on August 23, 1985. Summary Crockett and Tubbs flush out a DEA leak with the help of a guitar-playing, free-thinking pilot. Plot Crockett, Tubbs, Switek and Zito are observing a smuggler named Morales is being told in Spanish by someone in a car to "drop the bag or your family gets it". Morales drops a bag into a passing boat over a bridge, causing Crockett and Tubbs to wonder why a smuggler gives up the goods so easily, then goes to a houseboat where a woman is seen dangling from a rope, suddenly, the houseboat explodes, killing the woman inside and badly injuring Morales, and his smuggling days are over. At OCB, Castillo and Homicide Lieutenant Jones (Ron Vawter) discuss the incident, Jones chalks it up to "the politics of contraband", while Crockett is concerned the smuggler's family was involved too. After Jones sneers about the Miami Dolphins, he leaves. Morales survived the explosion but is paralyzed from the waist down, and with his wife dead Castillo feels he may talk. The Lieutenant then gets a phone call and asks Crockett and Tubbs to meet him in an abandoned building. They are joined by Trudy and DEA Special Agent Ed Waters (Richard Jenkins) who informs everyone that there have been five other smugglers recently involved in similar incidents as Morales and that the victims were currently under investigation from law enforcement, meaning there is a leak somewhere. Waters offers a strictly voluntary plan to flush out the leak and end these attacks: Crockett and Tubbs pose as two legit dealers, go to Cartagena, make a cocaine buy and bring it back to Miami. Trudy will pose as Tubbs' "wife" and wear a homing device. Waters will circulate an false interagency memo about Crockett and Tubbs' activities, and they will get three things: Morales (who agreed to cooperate and ID Tubbs as his cousin), fake background histories on both, and $1 million in cash. They will be completely on their own, no backup, no support, no pass through Customs, no transportation provided. Crockett and Tubbs agree and Tubbs finds an old contact, Tucker, who knows someone who flies and wants to get his name, and after they get Tucker out of a Vice raid, Tucker gives him the pilot's name, Jimmy Cole (Glenn Frey), who they find playing his guitar at a hangar, and he agrees to take them to Cartagena for $25,000... up front. Tubbs drops off Trudy at the hotel, then they park Tubbs' Cadillac at the drop site, where he puts a gun under the rear bumper... just in case. Jimmy's mechanic, Wavey Davey (Richard Edson) has his plane ready and they take off. In Cartagena, Crockett, Tubbs and Jimmy get a room in a rundown section of town, across from the meet place with Grocero (Jaime L. Sanchez), but they cannot agree on a price, and Grocero will let Tubbs know when, or if he will meet again. After leaving the meet, a woman pleads with Tubbs in Spanish, and two bandits drive their car down an alley, while Tubbs subdues one of them, the Policia show up and take Tubbs into custody, while Jimmy and Crockett get away. Back at their room, Crockett turns his rage on Jimmy (and tells him "never to pull a gun on him again!"). Jimmy calmly tells Crockett that "it's the nature of the business", but apologizes and states his concern for Tubbs as well, having been through the same thing himself. Crockett asks Jimmy if he's ever lost any friends he was close to. Jimmy says he's lost count and Crockett says he has too (as both served in Vietnam), but Tubbs is an exception and that he intends to wait for him. Meanwhile, Tubbs is sitting in jail when the policia chief reviews his false file, is satisfied Tubbs is clean, and will notify Grocero, who will meet Crockett and Tubbs in 20 minutes. They go to Grocero's smoke-filled room, and after a cocaine-filled plate in the shape of "M" (for Morales) and some gun-drawing, set up the deal involving two cars, parked trunk to trunk, one with the cash, one with the drugs, and switch keys. The key exchange is made in a cemetery, with Grocero checking the money and Tubbs checking a key of drugs for purity, then Tubbs drives the car with the drugs to the airstrip where Jimmy is waiting, but before they can take off Grocero's men storm the strip, trying to prevent them from leaving. Crockett takes the car and rams Grocero's cars together and they escape in a hail of gunfire. They drop the drugs in the predetermined spot and go back to retrieve it, but Wavey Davey and another man show up, pull guns on Crockett and Tubbs and try to get them to pay up $500,000 to save Trudy and three hours to do it. Jimmy comes by, saves the Vice cops (and takes a bullet in the process, but survives), and Tubbs shoots down Davey's buddy in his car (with the gun under the bumper), they get Davey to tell them where Trudy is, in a trailer on a construction site. Crockett takes Bomb Squad specialist Sam with him to see what type of bomb is inside. They find Trudy tied up to a chair, with a trembler, a radio controlled device, and an anti-motion device--any sudden moves and they're "wallpaper". Tubbs gets the call letting him know where to drop the money, over the same bridge that Morales used. Crockett tries to calm Trudy down by telling her about his trip while Sam works to get her out of the bomb. Tubbs meets the boat, drops the money and himself over. After a struggle, the masked man in the boat tells Tubbs that he will blow the trailer up, though he has 3 police units on him. He activates the device, blowing up the trailer, and Tubbs shoots him down. Crockett calls Tubbs to let him know he, Trudy and Sam got out OK. They pull the dead masked man out and find it's Lt. Jones from Homicide, the "Miami Dolphin fan". Waters can't believe a fellow cop would turn bad, but is reminded that the power of money can do anything to a person. Cast *Don Johnson as Metro-Dade Detective James "Sonny" Crockett *Philip Michael Thomas as Metro-Dade Detective Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs *Saundra Santiago as Metro-Dade Detective Gina Calabrese *Michael Talbott as Metro-Dade Detective Stan Switek *John Diehl as Metro-Dade Detective Larry Zito *Olivia Brown as Metro-Dade Detective Trudy Joplin *Edward James Olmos as Metro-Dade Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo Guest Stars *Richard Jenkins as DEA Special Agent Ed Waters *Jaime L. Sanchez as Grocero *Richard Edson as Wavey Davey *Ron Vawter as Metro-Dade Homicide Lieutenant Jones *Glenn Frey as Jimmy Cole Co-Starring *Coati Mundi as Tucker Smith *John Garcia as Cartagena Policia Lieutenant Todo *John Girard as Bruce *Raul Martinez as Roberto Morales *Nelson Oramas as Metro-Dade Bomb Squad Specialist Sam Notes * The episode was inspired by Frey's hit song "Smuggler's Blues", which Michael Mann heard on the radio, before asking Miguel Piñero (Esteban Calderone in three previous Vice episodes) to write an episode based upon it. Frey would write another song, "You Belong To The City", specifically for Miami Vice in Season 2's opener "The Prodigal Son". * One recurring theme in Miami Vice is the presence of police leaks helping drug dealers. This time it's a police lieutenant that is the leak, not a line officer or a clerk. * An acoustic version of "Smuggler's Blues" can be heard at the end of the episode. As of yet it has never been released. * Beginning with this episode, the episode title appears near the bottom of the screen, and will do so through the middle of the third season. Previously the title appeared in the middle of the screen. * The second season episode "Trust Fund Pirates" is considered a sequel to this episode, except Frey was unavailable to reprise his role as Jimmy, so the character of Jackson (played by Gary Cole), who knew about Jimmy and "Burnett and Cooper", was created. *Nelson Oramas would return as a bomb expert in the season 2 episode "Sons and Lovers", and co-wrote the fourth season finale "Mirror Image". Plot Similarities * Much of the plot of the ''Miami Vice'' movie was based on this episode, and certain lines were even repeated almost word for word. Also, the subplot about Trudy getting captured and placed in a booby-trapped trailer takes place in the movie. * Another plot similarity is that of the first half of the series finale, "Freefall" (which takes place four years later). Both "Freefall" and "Smuggler's Blues" feature Crockett and Tubbs being sent to Latin America by a third party. Production Notes *Filmed: December 12, 1984 - January 11, 1985 *Production Number: 59514 *Production Order: 15 Filming Locations *Brickell Key Bridge to Claughton Island, Miami (bridge used by Morales in opening and Tubbs at end to dump drugs) *San Juan, Puerto Rico and Fuerte San Felipe del Morro (Colombia and jail scenes with Tubbs) *La Perla District (Establishing shot of Colombia) *SE 500 South Miami Avenue, Miami (Trailer with Trudy and bomb) Music *"Lunatic Fringe" by Red Rider (Opening sequence with Morales) *"Baja" by Mascara (Crockett and Tubbs go see Tucker Smith) *"Smuggler's Blues" by Glenn Frey (Tubbs, Crockett and Jimmy fly to and from Cartagena, Tubbs caught by police in Cartagena, and at end when Lt. Jones is pulled from water) Quotes *"The politics of contraband doesn't involve killing children!" -- Crockett to Lt. Jones *"I ain't John Wayne and I don't have an "S" on my chest, so be brief about your business when you get there!" -- Jimmy to Crockett and Tubbs *"I always like to take a good-bye look at America, just in case it's my last!" -- Jimmy *"This place is like Dodge City, 1985" -- Crockett about Cartagena *"How about I blow that coke right out of you, amigo?" -- Tubbs to Grocero *"Bottom line is M-O-N-E-Y!" -- Tubbs to Waters when he asks the motivation for Jones to turn bad *"We got your wife.... we'll give her back to you for $500,000!" "Take the coke... it's worth twice that." "We're not in the coke-sellin' business, my man, we're in the CASH business and you got just three hours to raise it." -- Wavey Davey and Tubbs Category:Miami Vice Season 1 Episodes